The linchpin of the North Atlantic portion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO/ETAN) is no longer considered important, so the USA is pulling out. Totally out by October. And the airwaves are silenced, the last Mahan high school graduation has occurred. NAS KeflavÃk is soon no more.
Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, RÚV, reports that the US Armed Forces Radio at the Keflavik military base signed off yesterday, June 1st. It started operations in 1951 and had broadcast continuously for 55 years.
According to RÚV, the US Armed Forces Radio, colloquially known as “Yankee Radio”, made more American music available to Icelandic audiences and “deeply influenced the music, fashion and attitudes of Icelandic youth.”
Iceland joined NATO in 1949 and entered into a formal defense agreement with the US in 1951. Earlier this year, the US decided unilaterally to withdraw the bulk of its forces from the military base at KeflavÃk in a move that has been characterized as a “unilateral cancellation” of the US-Icelandic Defense Agreement.
That is the Icelandic view. The US view is Iceland, where is that? However I remember hearing a Icelandic Member of the Parliament (Althingi – and yes, it is the Parliament, as Icelandic puts “the” in places you never would) talk about how he learned English watching bootleg Bonanza shows. Geography says western Iceland, where most of the folks live, is on the North American Plate, but recent politics is pushing them to Europe.
I guess the locals will all become “FM-heads,” listening to FM 95.7 (Warning, serious Europop)
